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Date Published: 08/12/2021

ARCHIVED - Spain rapidly approaches high risk level: Covid update December 7

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

A further 43,808 infections have been reported over the weekend in Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spain rapidly approaches high risk level: Covid update December 7

As a result of the December public holiday, the Ministry of Health in Spain has experienced a delay in publishing the latest coronavirus data, but the figures released on Tuesday December 7 paint a worrying picture as the nation once again approaches the high risk category - between 300 and 500 cases according to the government’s revised traffic light system.

Cumulative incidence rate

Spain is well and truly in the midst of the sixth wave of the pandemic as the 14-day incidence rate has jumped 42 points since Friday, to sit at 290.10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The situation is even more troubling in the Basque Country (881) and Navarra (712) which have both landed at the extreme risk level and have experienced a sharp rise of 115 and 178 points respectively over the holiday weekend.

Andalucía remains well below the national average, with 136.36 cases, while the Region of Murcia has increased to 286.25 cases and the Valencian Community has risen to high risk at 319.16 infections per 100,000 residents.

By age group, those over the age of 80 have the lowest incidence rate given that the vaccination campaign has reached 100%, while children under 11 have by far the highest figure, at 498.18. This is all set to change, however, as Spain plans to begin rolling out a reduced dose of the Pfizer jab to children aged between 5 and 11 from next week.

Coronavirus infections

A further 43,808 cases of Covid have been detected in Spain since Friday, and the positivity rate has risen to 8.42%, well above the 5% figure at which the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers the virus to be “controlled”.

The Ministry of Health has now confirmed that 11 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in Spain, two of which are not at all linked to foreign travel.

While the Delta variant still represents almost 100% of the infections in Spain, the Ministry has admitted that data “is still very scarce to determine the true impact on the transmissibility, severity or immune escape of the Omicron variant”.

Hospitalisations and fatalities

The pandemic is heaping extra pressure on Spain’s hospitals and the ICU occupancy rate reached 10.2% on Tuesday, up from 8.84% before the weekend. It is now estimated that 60% of those hospitalised for Covid are unvaccinated, and health experts believe that those aged between 60 and 80 who have not been jabbed are 16 times more likely to be admitted, while the risk is nine times higher for people aged between 30 and 59 years.

The number of ICU patients increased from 814 to 948 over the last four days and ward occupancy now stands at 4%, representing 4,119 patients.

Since Friday, 78 additional deaths have been recorded, bringing the total death toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 88,237.

Vaccination data

An additional 384,493 doses of the vaccine were administered over the weekend, most of those representing booster jabs for people over 60, health workers and those previously vaccinated with Janssen. Around 71% of people over the age of 70 have now received their third dose.

To date, 91.3% of the target population (38,447,301 people) have received their first dose of the vaccine while 89.5% (37,677,168 people) are now double jabbed.

One year on...

On this day last year, before the vaccination campaign began and while perimetre restrictions were still in place in Spain, the 14-day cumulative incidence rate stood at 215 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Over the three-day public holiday, 17,681 new infections were reported along with a shocking 394 deaths, while ICU occupancy was above 24%.

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